(Closed) Can we talk budget/timeframe of payments

Long question…Let’s say I have a $5,000 budget. Now let’s say I have a 12 month engagement. If I made equal payments over the length of the engagement, I would spend a little over $400/month. But you don’t. You have to put down deposits.

So for budgeting purposes (still in very early stages of planning), can any of you answer how much (percentage wise) you spent and when.

For example: $10,000 budget

33.3% as soon as planning started

33.3% within 90 days of wedding date

33.3% paid at reception

I know that there is no “exact” answer, but we are paying for everything ourselves and I am trying to budget our money and I don’t just have $5,000 laying around to spend right now, but I definately will by the wedding.

I put down all the deposits at the beginning of planning so I could get that out of the way. I also bought things once a month. I had a list I went by. I also paid the last deposits towards the last months. I get married this weekend and everything is paid for and everything is boxed and ready to go. The only payments left are the make up artist and bartender…everything else has been paid and it feels good 🙂

It makes sense; but keep in mind that as you sign contracts with florists/photographers/etc. You’ll need to put down deposits.

Our photographer required a 50% deposit upon signing and then 50% the week before the wedding. Our venue took CC so we put it on the CC to get points. It was 50% down, and 50% at the conclusion since we had to factor in corkage etc.

Our florist was 100% paid in full the week before the wedding. Videographer was 25% down at signing, 50% at the wedding, and 25% at the delivery of the dvd.

Our live musicians were 50% down at contract, 50% week of the wedding (put on CC)

It really depends on when you sign up for your vendors and venues. Try to put on your CC to get points, but don’t go overboard…. we pay off our credit card every month.

I made a handy dandy spreadsheet that listed each individual item grouped into categories (Attire, Photography, Venue, Food, Details, Ceremony), then a projected month that amount would be due.

I found that the venue and photographer wanted deposits up front.

Then smaller items, but the bulk of it was due right around the wedding day – ie day of or two weeks prior.

Here’s an example of my wedding:

Here’s a screenshot of my spreadsheet that I created. It’s very customizable, but you need to have some basic Excel skills to make sure your cells are summing correctly. If you want a copy, feel free to message me your email address.

Early on we put down deposits, for example when we booked our venue we had to put 10% down, when we booked the dj we had to put $100 down and the florist required 1/3 down payment. However, after that the bulk is being paid within 4 weeks of the wedding with most of it being paid the day of. But this is b/c the most expensive part is the caterer and they don’t require payment until the day of (crazy huh!?!?) I guess they are very trusting! The venue had to be paid in full 30 days ahead of time and the florist/baker had to be paid 15 days ahead of time. But caterer, dj and photographer are paid day of for us. It’ll all just depend on your vendors and their policies.

@sienna76: Yes! This is exactly what I was looking for.Just to see when the money was actually spent was what I was hoping to see.

To all: Thank you so much. I guess I will just have to book something first (obviously venue) and pay whatever deposit I have to with them and then go from there. I just don’t have all of the money right now for all of the deposits so I feel like I can’t really start planning yet.

We did all our down payments at the start of planning… So my Hall was about 7,000$ and the day we signed all the paperwork we put down 500$ and then any where from 400-500$ a month .. And I would buy little things as time goes on, like if your out and you have the extra money to spend and u see something you need for the wedding just go on and get it. I had a Wedding box I placed our things in for safe keeping..

We pay all deposits up front and pay in full asap….hoping to have 50k budget wedding paid in full in the next couple months. We’re putting everything on our miles CC and will hopefully get our airline tickets free if we rack ip enough miles.

a few vendors require pp counts so we have to wait for our rsvps to come back, additionally our DJ prefers to be paid after, and our baker doesn’t take CC so we sent her a check.

Like you I didn’t have all the deposits up front either (at first). I booked my florist without paying her and we worked out a payment plan (alittle bit here and there every month). I paid her 10% to solidify the date a few weeks later and have since paid the bulk of my bill. I only owe about 20% still and that will be paid a few weeks before the wedding (and maybe the day of as well).

My photographer required just 15% down payment and then monthly payments. I owe about $60 on my bill, which will be paid the week of.

Caterer required 50% down, the other 50% day of the wedding. Dj wanted just 15% downpayment, the rest day of.

Out of my wedding budget, I have spent on deposits and other payments so far, almost 40%. Still have a little over 50% to pay off.